kickerofelves

I've already played Slay and Undertale (both excellent games) but I'll give Moon a go if that wins the vote. I presume it's Moon Remix RPG Kates referring to. Might even give Earthbound another go if that wins, though I didn't really enjoy it the first time. I think I got as far as the 4th town.

@FishyS I think you're meant to play Slay the Spire. Sounds like it's meant to be structured like a book club, and at a book club everyone reads the same book.

Those character sprites are very impressive. Bit odd to have a NES style UI in a Megadrive game though. I've been a lot more interested in modern games for retro systems since playing Micro Mages. That game was great

Last I checked Space Station Silicon Valley wasn't fully functional via emulation so a PC port of that would be amazing. Several of these games aren't owned by Nintendo so there's always a (very small) chance the PC ports could end up on GOG.

+1000 for Zachtroics games. They are amazing. Space-Chem completely devoured my brain for weeks a few years back. Big fan of TIS-100 as well.

Not much of a coder these day but I loved programming in college because all of the assignments were basically big puzzles. "Use X tools to create a program with Y functionality". Unfortunately after I left I couldn't really get back into it as without the limited parameters of those college projects I found coding 'real' applications massively overwhelming. It did mange to make an app in pico-8 for generating backing tracks though (for guitar practice). That was super fun.

Can't comment on the ranking as I've only play 3 of these but Dynamite Heady is excellent and well worth checking out if you like fast-paced action games and Japanese weirdness. Ristar is also great.

Sold! Grabbed Jett Rocket and Art of Balance. Already got Nano and the Golf one doesn't look like my kinda thing...

Treasure of the Rudras or Bahamut Lagoon would be amazing. If they're up for localizing Live A Live it seems like nothing is off the table...

I'm going with C M Koseman or Luigi Serafini

Another great event, delighted for them. Even during Covid they've managed to raise a staggering amount. Surprised you didn't mention the Blindfold Mario 64 70 Star run. That was the highlight of the event for me. Absolutely astonishing. The community is working on routing 120 star right now so maybe we'll get to see that next year.

Last new top five entry was La Mulana 2 in 2018.

1. Super Mario Sunshine
2. Pokemon Gen 1 (any version)
3. La Mulana 2
4. Wonderboy in Monster World
5. Mario Kart Double Dash

@kategray There's a great video by Extra Credits on this topic. Really worth a watch if you haven't seen it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uepAJ-rqJKA

@Dualmask If you enjoyed the rest of the series I'd be surprised if you didn't like this one too. This review is pretty harsh IMO.

@Peteykins Xtreme Sports for GBC is also shockingly good

@switchvogel Out of interest which 8 bit games do you think have withstood the test of time? I played Shantae for the first time in 2015 and thought it held up very well. I enjoyed it much more than Risky's Revenge or Pirates Curse.

Pretty poor choice of title considering the fan made Mother 4 game recently got rebranded as Oddity. This is definitely going to cause some confusion...

You're kind of taking on five different topics at once here:

Cheese strats in a single player game:
I think if the devs left it in then it's fair game. They can occasionally lessen the sense of accomplishment but most of the time using a smart workaround to make a boss easier is just being strategic. Work smart not hard.

Using cheats in a single player game:
I almost never do this unless I've played the game to death and I've run out of 'legitimate' content. I definitely see the value for accessibility purposes though.

Difficulty settings in a single player game:
I usually start with the default as not every game is properly tested and balance for all it's difficulty modes. A well crafted hard mode with new obstacles and challenges is great, but a lazy hard mode with bullet sponge enemies or unforgiving checkpoints is tedious as hell. Again, great to have options for accessibility reasons.

Cheese strats in a multiplayer game:
If a strategy gives you an advantage in a multiplayer game you have to use it, otherwise you'll be steamrolled by the competition. If cheese starts are making the game less fun it's the devs job to patch them out, not the players job to abstain from using them.

Using cheats in a multiplayer game:
Fine when playing with friends if you've all agreed to it. Never do this when playing online with strangers though, you're ruining the game for everyone.

Like making a thermos flask out of your grandfathers skull

If anyone got that reference I salute you

Really exited for this! Loved the first two games and this looks significantly more ambitious.

@Noid Mainly the controls and the combo system. It has a lot more depth than a basic endless runner.

@SepticLemon you've reminded me that my 8bitdo m30 also doesn't register diagonals correctly

I have the previous model and although it is excellent overall there a 2 pretty annoying problems.
1: the D-pad doesn't register diagonal inputs consistently. Not sure if I have a faulty pad or if this is a common problem.
2: Xinput mode doesn't support Gyro and Switch mode doesn't support analogue triggers so if you want to use both at the same time you're outa luck.

I would sacrifice Yakuza so that Toshihiro Nagoshi can go back to making F-Zero or Monkey Ball games (either series would be fine, genies choice).

A new entry would be cool but I'd be totally happy with a BN collection. Never got round to playing the whole series.

I think the best thing though would be a mashup with all the best ideas from the 5 games thrown together, kinda like how Sonic Mania rehashed a load of classic levels alongside new ones. The games are similar enough that playing through the whole lot might be a bit of a slog, I remember reviewers at the time slating them for being too similar.

@Divinebovine your avatar has reminded me of the time I saw a shiny Koffing in Fire Red, but it used self-destruct before I could catch it 😭 The worst part was that I had a Masterball and didn't use it. Still haunts me to this day.

@terra 'Notably, it recreated the Pokémon Mini hardware’s five games'.

You mean five of the Pokemon mini's 10 games. 🙃 And it only has a small section from each, not the whole game.

Also, if ever there was a time to champion Pokemon Tetris this was it.

If Kurt is behind this it's going to be great.

I was still pretty young during the GBAs reign so I didn't play much besides Pokemon and Sonic. Most of my favorite games for the systems I discovered much later. These are my favorite 'deep cuts'.

Mother 3
Megaman Battle Network
Ninja Cop / Ninja Five-0
Kuru Kuru Kururin
Astro Boy Omega Factor

I got all the way to the checkpoint in the middle of the final level of Super Meat Boy. I stopped because the level was taking too long and I had to be somewhere. I could never work up the energy to tackle the first half again so I just gave up.

@Purgatorium @Grandiajet @AgentGuapo Did any of you play it in the 90s when it first came out? I'm genuinely curious. I played it for the first time about 10 years ago, but I bounced off it because the lack of invincibility frames made the combat extremely frustrating. Kept getting stun-locked in that wolf fight ...

@Beatrice 100% this. I do wonder how many people who champion SoM as a masterpiece 1) played it for the first time as an adult or 2) played it exclusively in single player. Don't get me wrong, the art and music are gorgeous, but the gameplay is a frustrating mess.

@DevinRex I think you're thinking of the Pokemon Pocket Pikachu which was a sort of Tamagotchi and whole different kettle of fish.

Thanks @Damo

https://hg101.kontek.net/pokemonmini/pokemonmini.htm

The formatting was removed for some reason but all the screen shots are still in there.

For those interested there's a detailed rundown of the system and all ten games over on Hardcore Gaming 101 (written by yours truly). As far as I'm aware it's the most comprehensive article about the console and games anywhere online... I did a lot of research. They haven't migrated it to the new site yet but it's still accessible via the old archived one. Not sure I'm allow to link stuff here so I won't.

Always delighted to hear about re-releases like this. It's a great shame when interesting games are lost to the ages. I never even heard about this game when it was released. By the time it entered my orbit it'd become way too rare for me to play it.

Played this on PC back in February. It's my game of the year.

"inspired by Wonder Boy in Monster World and Ys..."

Take my money! This is basically my dream combo... unless someone figures out how to make a game "inspired by La Mulana and Super Mario Sunshine" lol.

I'm sorely tempted by this. I've been in the market for a (relatively) cheap arcade stick for ages. If the build quality is as good as the M30 megadrive pad I'm in.

@TYRANACLES I bought their Megadrive style 6 button controller recently. The build quality is excellent, the buttons feel really nice. The only downside is that it doesn't have native compatibility with a lot of games (I'm playing on PC), but I just use joy2key in those cases.

@accc check howlongtobeat .com It has the average playtime for pretty much every game under the sun. It's a handy recourse.

@shazbot I would definitely recommend Hover even though it's a bit rough around the edge. Don't worry about the inactive community, the MMO elements are completely optional and not that engaging. I played 90% of the game in offline mode.

Awesome that a JSR successor is being attempted by a developer with a proven track record. Although I really enjoyed Hover: Revolt of Gamers (the last indie attempt at a JSR style game) it was clear that the devs bit off a little bit more than they could chew...

News like this always makes me extremely happy. There seems to be a trend recently of localizing long forgotten Japan exclusive games. First Trials of Mana, then Moon Remix RPG, now this. There are so many awesome games out there that were never released in English, I hope we continue to see them come to the west.

@BurgosGames Wow hi there! Thanks for taking the time to reply to my comment. By 'rough' I really just meant 'unfinished', which is to be expected since the game is still in the middle of development (is it in Beta or Alpha right now?)

More specifically; I found the movement physics a bit slippery and difficult to control. I kept building up too much momentum and catapulting off the edges of platforms.

My PC specs are: i5 7300HQ 2.50ghz, 8GB RAM, SSD + HDD, nvidia gtx 1050, Windows 10. The game ran just fine, no frame rate drops that I can recall.

Good luck with the project! I hope the rest of development goes smoothly

I played the demo on PC and it was VERY rough. I hope they manage to polish it up before release because the idea is solid.

This is great! So many cool indie games coming out right now it's easy for stuff to slip through the cracks. Odallus is amazing, definitely don't sleep on that one y'all. I'd never heard of most of these and I like the look of The Demon Crystal a lot.

@NotTelevision Obra Dinn is incredible! I would recommend starting with La Mulana 1 even though it's a bit jankyer and more punishing than the sequel. The main difference is the platforming physics but I never had too much trouble with them in the first game. If you liked Rain World you'll have no trouble with this (that's slugcat in your picture right?)

@NotTelevision it is a gbv reference! I am a musician by trade.

The puzzles in La Mulana are mostly about observation. You need to pay careful attention to the environment and decode information written on the hint tablets. Any little detail can end up being important, the name of a room, an image on the wall in the background, or some lore building flavor text. Sometimes it's about using a certain item in a specific area, sometimes it's doing a sequence of actions in the right order, there are also quite a few more standard logic puzzles thrown in as well (block pushing etc).
The tricky part is figuring out what the tablets actually mean, and keeping track of all the hints. Often a piece of information provided to you in zone 10 is referring to a puzzle in zone 2 or visa versa. I had to take a screenshot of literally every tablet in the game, and refer to them constantly to figure out what I was doing. The cool thing about this is it encourages you to pay really close attention to the lore of the game as there's no way to progress without doing so. The story and the world are deeply intertwined with the game-play. That's the magic of La-Mulana.

This could well be my favorite game ever made, what more can I say.

I bought this game on NLs recommendation way back in 2012 and it absolutely consumed me for several weeks. I've played loads of great metroidvanias over the years but I've never quite lived in one the way I did for La Mulana and it's sequel. Both games are masterpieces despite their flaws. If you like lateral puzzle games like Myst or the Witness absolutely give this a shot.